


Wake-Up Call

by snoipahs



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: F/M, drama that turns into humor hehe, just a short morning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-21
Updated: 2016-08-21
Packaged: 2018-08-10 04:27:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7830355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snoipahs/pseuds/snoipahs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Riku is particularly high-strung when it comes to keeping the place where he and Naminé sleep secure. Of course he can't admit to her that he's still afraid of the dark.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wake-Up Call

It was far too early in the morning.

Riku was awake anyway, and his eyes were open to wary slits on the same mote of suspicion that had roused him from his slumber in the first place.

Naminé was before him in bed, sleeping soundly as she should have been. Her tiny frame was cuccooned in their thick, white comforter, which made her body look a good deal larger than it actually was. Riku’s mouth twitched into a smile as he found himself staring at her, nearly forgetting about the slicing bite of protective instinct in the back of his conscious. Rather, he grew more interested in the way their blankets gently shifted up and down with the rise and fall of her chest, thanks to her shallow breaths.

He thought it was only a figment of his imagination at first, but in the next few moments of watching her he was sure he couldn’t be mistaken. Her breathing, slight as it was, began to slow. Then, upon the sight of her subtle quivering, his wariness instantaneously returned, intense as ever. In fact, it was steadily growing, now, what with the fact that he was becoming so consumed by it that he didn’t even have the good sense to shake her awake and ask if everything, to her, at least, felt all right. No, he hardly bothered sitting up, and simply continued to watch with a festering dread as her breaths grew more and more infrequent, until finally a worrisome window of time passed when she drew no breath at all.

In reality, it couldn’t have been more than a handful of moments, but to him, it felt like an eternity, or at least long enough for his heart to crawl its way into his throat at a painstaking pace. But when the silence was broken, his heart would drop to the bottom of his stomach, for it was a sound, accompanied by a scent, that he had grown to loathe more than anything in the world.

And when this particular thing was in the same room as the one he loved more than anything, it was only natural for his once subdued protective instinct to instantly assume control of his conscious.

Naminé finally took in a breath, in the form of an abrupt gasp, as she found herself awakened by an arm clutching around her shoulders. In a daze at the development, she pressed her palms to the bare chest she was being held against. When she glanced up at his face, she was relieved to realize that it was indeed Riku who had snatched her into his grip, but then in the same rapid moment alarmed to recognize the way in which he was holding her was almost desperately possessive. The arm that wasn’t securing her body to his was extended, keyblade drawn, to a shroud of darkness in the forefront of their room.

Her exhale came out a shudder, and his reflexes compelled his muscles to instantly grip her a little tighter. She was only focused, however, on his face. His expression was intense. His eyes were fierce. And she was, very genuinely, afraid.

“…Riku,” Naminé breathed the name of her beloved in a tone somewhere between a whine and a whisper. How she wanted him to respond, she didn’t know. But to go so instantaneously from the placid serenity of sleep to the tension of whatever situation they were in now was cause enough for her to want, to _need_ to hear his voice in comfort.

Without taking his eyes off the corner of the room he had fixated on, the silver-haired boy part his lips to speak, but was promptly cut off by a voice that did not belong to him at all. It laughed; it seemed to laugh rather cruelly, at that, almost mockingly at Riku’s very justified unease.

Chilling as it was, it was a laugh the both of them could recognize anywhere. Naminé promptly sighed a heavy sigh of relief and let her face roll to one side across his ribs, as Riku too relaxed his shoulders, but promptly after bearing his teeth in rage.

He saw the white glint of his teeth before he recognized the golden glow of his eyes. Soon enough, that sensation that made his nose scrunch and the hair on the back of his neck stand on end swelled to its greatest intensity, before promptly subsiding as the shadows finally fully formed the figure of his best friend’s doppelganger.

“ _Vanitas._ ” Riku growled. Sure, he was ally enough to warrant at least a _lowered_ keyblade, but he didn’t go as far as to dismiss it. In fact, his grip only tightened until his knuckles turned just about as white as the sheets they rest on.

Somehow, the black-haired boy’s mischevious smile grew even wider.

“Mornin’.”

Naminé perhaps had a better sense of humor than her partner, for she actually let of a small, breathy giggle as her frayed nerves smoothed themselves out and she readied herself for polite conversation.

“Good morning, Vanitas…” she extended him a heartfelt greeting, though somewhat unnerved by the fact that this was perhaps an overly intimate setting for him to be tresspassing on. This was their bedroom, early in the morning, no less, and having just awoken from her slumber the only thing she had on was a rather thin, white nightgown. She even accidentally plucked a strand of her wispy blonde hair right off of her head as she hastily tried to straighten out the strap that lay drooping down her shoulder.

“…Is everything alright?” she began with a necessary question. “Did something happen?”

“Well, let’s see…” Vanitas began, assuming a faux contemplative expression. “If I had to guess, I would say that a great many things have happened, none of which you are aware of, seeing as a state of unconsciousness has possessed you as of late. I, however, see no particular reason why any of these things should come as a source of great distress to either of you.”

The blonde fell her brow and let out a short huff through her nostrils, but the smile did not completely vanish from her face. Try as she may to hide it, she did find his sarcasm amusing. Riku, however, did not.

“Why are you _here_?" he demanded, pointing at him glare so intense that even Vanitas had trouble addressing it directly. So, he wisely, did not.

“…I’m sorry, Naminé,” his playful smile softened, and he gave a slight sort of shrug in the female’s direction. “I’m afraid I need to borrow _that_ -” he then gave a nod toward Riku’s side of the bed, “-for a while.”

She chewed her cheek and gave a couple slight nods. It’s not like this was an unusual no-notice summons; in all likelihood Terra and Lea too had already been collected from their beds and were waiting just beyond their bedroom door. Riku had come to realize this too, she guessed, for in the place of protest or argument he only released an annoyed sigh, dismissed his keyblade, and swung his legs over the side of the bed.

“So…” Naminé began to fill the somewhat awkward silence that dawned on the room as she turned to watch Riku get dressed. “…What big, bad business do you four have to tend to today?”

Her partner obviously did not yet know, so the question fell to Vanitas, which instantly seemed to offset his wit. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye as she kept all the fixation she could on Riku’s toned back, before his collared tank top slid down it and promptly concealed it from view. It was a forward question; she was aware, so she had enough time to simply gaze at her man before Vanitas could come up with a cunning answer.

“…You know,” he began, eyes instantly darting to the side. “This and that.”

Not a very graceful dance around her question, he himself silently admitted. He didn’t have much of a choice, though. It’s not that he _couldn’t_ tell her, per se, it’s just that he felt too polite to. No one who dwelled in the light ever wanted to hear what the denizens of darkness were up to; it would have been just plain rude to discuss those sorts of things in front of someone with a heart as pure as Naminé’s.

Ironic he felt that way, he waywardly realized, as this girl slept next to a boy whose very heart was _filled_ with darkness every single night.

Some more shuffling of clothes and clinks of metal existed before an impasse was reached. If Vanitas’ momentary silence could be interpreted as a sort of pleading for Riku to insert himself into the conversation, it was steadfastly ignored. He much preferred to watch him squirm.

“…I won’t bore you with the details,” he said quickly as his smile returned. Riku was finished dressing, and he stole Naminé’s attention when he leaned across the bed, pulled her into his grasp, and planted a passionate parting kiss on her lips.

“But I’m sure he can tell you all about it,” Vanitas added with a shrug. “As soon as he gets back.”

Naminé let out a brief sigh of bliss as he pulled away, then slowly turned her gaze to her lap.

“Of course,” she humored him, but it was now plainly evident that the melancholy of being left alone was slowly overtaking her. She raised her head anyway, and offered them both a smile before they departed.

Vanitas’ expression faltered, as it wasn’t hard for him to read between the lines of her tender disposition. His lips parted, and he intended to apologize a final time before he turned to leave her be, but was interrupted by Riku’s hand firmly clamping down on his shoulder.

“This had better be good,” he seethed as he started towards the door and dragged the intruder out of his bedroom along with him. He wanted to leave promptly, for he knew that if he stayed to look upon his beloved’s sweet but sad face for even a moment longer, he would be unable to leave at all.

“Hey,” Vanitas said defensively, shrugging off his grip. “Do I ever disappoint you?”

“No,” Riku replied. “You _infuriate_ me.”


End file.
